When the time comes, should Robinson Cano and the Yankees … part ways?

The assumption has always been that it is only a matter of time and dollar bills before the Yankees and Robinson Cano come to an agreement that will keep the Yankee second baseman in pinstripes for the next several years. In terms of performance, Cano is the Yankee most deserving of a major financial commitment. He’s only 29 years old and has his best years in front of him. He’s emerging as a charismatic leader of the franchise. And he hits pretty well too. In fact, from 2009-2011 Robbie ranks as the 13th best player in all of baseball, according to fWAR. The players ahead of him on that list have, for the most part, all gotten their paydays. Robbie is a Scott Boras client playing for the richest team in all of sports. He’ll be looking to get his.

Now that Ian Kinsler has signed his $75 million extension a market is beginning to emerge for Robbie’s talents. Kinsler and Cano go about putting up their numbers in different ways, but they actually put up similar numbers. Kinsler has accumulated 25.2 fWAR during his career and a .365 wOBA versus 24.7 and .358 for Cano. In that regard, Cano should look to receive at least as much money as Kinsler. Ian has produced a bit better over the years, but Robinson is more durable.

Kinsler’s contract, however, is a base line. Ian didn’t hit free-agency. It is highly likely that Cano will. Scott Boras always takes his client to free-agency and the Yankees seldom if ever negotiate with players who are under contract. Cano will almost certainly test the market. On the market he’ll get more money than $75 million for five years.

My finger in the air estimate says that six years and $120 million or seven years and $135 million will be Robbie’s final price tag. It seems like an over pay for any team who signs him, but that is the purpose of free-agency. Boras is brilliant at getting his clients more money than they deserve. Just ask Prince Fielder.

That means that the Yankees will be looking at a $130 million cash commitment to keep Cano through his mid to late thirties. With that in mind, it is worth asking if it makes sense for the Yankees to keep Cano at all? If some other team wants to offer him that big money (some one will, I promise) why not let him decline elsewhere?

There are three reasons why the Yankees should seriously consider letting their star second baseman leave the team if his price becomes too steep. The first is financial. The Yankees have a lot of bad contracts, probably more than any other team. The Bombers are not a pay for performance organization. Instead, the team has committed hundreds of millions of dollars to Alex Rodriguez, Mark Teixeira, Derek Jeter and CC Sabathia. Only Sabathia remains as effective as he was when he signed his deal. It’s not that the other players are performing badly, it’s just that they are being paid to be the best players on the team, perhaps in baseball, and they’re not. In three years time A-Rod and Tex won’t be any better than they are now, but they will still be under contract.

Why add Cano’s name to that list? The Yankees have already made him unfathomably rich. They don’t owe him a mega-contract that will add his name to the growing list of aging baseball superstars who are being paid for what they did in their primes. At a certain point the Yankees are going to need financial flexibility. They can’t get it from their existing contracts. They could potentially get it from Cano. It would be the shrewd move. The Yankees would have gotten his prime years at a bargain, allowing him to decline in another city.

The second reason it makes sense for the Yankees to (at least consider) letting Cano walk is because he’s, um, kind of over rated. Don’t get me wrong, Cano is great. He’s been hands down the best Yankee the last three years. However, he hasn’t been a top ten baseball player, as I demonstrated above. Cano doesn’t produce as much as Albert Pujols, Miguel Cabrera or Joey Votto. People just think he does, probably because he’s about as graceful a ball player as you’ll ever see and because he’s emerged as the best player on the biggest team. That produces a lot of hype, but hype doesn’t change the fact that Cano has posted a .378 wOBA over the past three years while Votto posted a .419. The hype that surrounds Cano makes him a prime candidate for an over pay contract. Let some other team make that mistake.

Finally, giving Cano a big money extension would essentially be doubling down on the strategies that haven’t worked for the Yankees the past few seasons, and ignoring the ones that have. In 2010 and 2011 the best players on the Yankees have been Cano, Curtis Granderson and Brett Gardner (if you believe Gardner’s defensive contributions are legitimate, which I do), according to Fangraphs. Nick Swisher sneaks in there just behind A-Rod. The players getting the job done for the team have been young, less expensive players in their late twenties, not the shiny acquisitions from the free-agent market. It would be wiser for the Yankees to try to find another Granderson or Swisher, rather than turn Cano into the next Tex.

None of this means that I don’t want the Yankees to keep Robbie, provided he keeps on hitting. At the right price I most certainly do. Cano projects to be one of the game’s best second baseman for the next five or six years. That’s an asset worth paying for. It’s just not an asset worth over paying for. For that reason, I wouldn’t shed any tears if Robbie and the Yankees part ways once his contract expires after next season. It would just be smart business.

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15 thoughts on “When the time comes, should Robinson Cano and the Yankees … part ways?”

shutup

He’s a second basemen and you’re comparing his stats to 1b.

Stop.

April 15, 2012

Havok9120

He also compared him to Kinsler. Health is worth a lot, but Cano could get paid twice what Kinsler does for equal statistical production. How does that make sense?

April 15, 2012

NOT SCOTT BORAS

Also, much Cano’s skillset.. contact and defense (arguably) doesn’t age all that well.

April 15, 2012

TheOneWhoKnocks

He’s one of the best players in the game legitimately. I’d love to keep him. With that said Kinsler just signed for $75m and he’s produced damn near similar to Cano the past few years. So when Boras could probably get Cano $140-185 on the free agent market, it’s probably in our best interest to pass. If it was business as usual than you just overpay for Cano and suck it up later in the contract when he’s declining. But with the austerity budget looming and the yanks already saddled with several record contracts- I think Cano is gone. If they do manage to keep him and still try to stay under the austerity budget, big sacrifices will have to be made on the rest of the roster and I’d rather try to have a more well rounded team

April 15, 2012

Brendan

I think Cano is gone, to be honest. The premium Boras will seek will be very much out of line, as you have pointed out.

April 15, 2012

Peter Parks

Isn’t it in Boras’ best interest to negotiate a new contract after this year? Cano has one more option left, but negotiated with Cano’s previous agent. So Boras makes no money until a new contract is signed.

I wouldn’t mind Cano at 15M/yr for 5-6 years. I would go up to 16.5M/yr if the first year started next year.

April 15, 2012

Havok9120

That’s true, but he won’t sell the interests of his client out for a quick payday. He and his client stand to make more in free agency. Besides, its not like he needs the money.

April 15, 2012

Tom Swift

I have been thinking this for a while. His OBP is not that great. I would rather sign Swisher and Granderson to reasonable contracts than overpay for Cano. A lot will depend on whether any kind of replacement emerges in the minor league system in the next 2 years.

April 15, 2012

Havok9120

Eh. Not sure reasonable will enter the picture with Granderson either. Depends a lot on the next two seasons, just like Cano’s does.

It’ll also depend on if either of them are willing to take huge (but somewhat less huge) paydays to stay with the Yankees. There’s just no way for us to know.

April 15, 2012

roadrider

The one aspect you ignore is if the Yankees were to let Cano walk for “financial flexibility” whom would they replace him with? I can see the argument about overpaying for a player’s decline phase but as long as the contract is not ridiculous in length and/or dollars (which, I concede, it might well end up being) then I would lean towards retaining Cano unless an obvious replacement is at hand.

One other point – you, and FanGraphs, are all wet on the value of Gardner’s defensive contributions. Don’t get me wrong – I like Gardner and what he brings to the team but he’s basically a league average offensive producer who is overqualified defensively for the position he plays. If he was a CF, even by the FanGraphs metrics, he would not be rated nearly as highly over his peers and his resulting value numbers would not be as high.

April 15, 2012

T.O. Chris

If Gardner was playing CF I fully believe he would rate as one of the top 2-3 center fields in baseball year in and year out, which would actually increase his overall value since center field requires less offensive production.

April 17, 2012

Reggie C.

I think a $102 million, 6 year contract is a totally reasonable contract and one Cano would sign. The deal establishes Cano as the highest paid 2B and is a solid raise in his annual avg salary.

Cano likely finishes 2011 with another .300/.350/.520 campaign. I think these likely numbers warrant the Yankees to break tradition and extend Cano. So … Scrap the 2013 club option and extend Cano should Cano show once more that he’s the offensive stalwart of this ball club anchored by aging stars and a 1B who’ll hit 35 homers but kill the club with a .250 BA.

April 15, 2012

jerry greene

Cano is worth the commitment. No heirs in sight. He is young. 6 years at $20 million per

April 16, 2012

T.O. Chris

Cano will be 31 for the first year of his next contract, that is in no way young, and hystorically for second baseman it’s actually old. There is no way I would give Cano 120 million for his age 31-37 seasons, that’s a contyract you are guaranteed to regret less than half way through. When you consider the skill set he brings to the table it makes it an even worse deal, considering contact rate with no ability to draw walks is a terrible skill set to bring into middle age.

With or with out a solid replacement Cano should go after his current deal is done unless they can ink a Kinsler like deal, which once he hits open market they won’t be able to do. I hope the Yankees let both Cano and Granderson walk and save us the headache of their middle age decline.

April 17, 2012

Brian

Wow thanks, i thought i was crazy that i was pro not signing cano. I saw this and was happy that their are people out there that agree with the premise. That being said there is no way the yankees are not re-signing him, its the yankee way to give outragously long contracts to people about to leave their prime.